The Sparrow Escapes Its Cage

[A clear-eyed, cunning, resilient traitor's daughter x an upright, principled young general who turns dark later] In the twenty-second year of Yongding, Xu Yunxiu died. The young general sat motionless beside her tombstone, tracing the name of the woman he loved again and again. A man whose wife has died is a widower; a man whose betrothed has died may call himself her devoted fiancé. He was neither. He had no title at all. After being reborn, Xu Yunxiu first saw Xie Mingyi in a courtyard strewn with dead leaves. The young general stood motionless in the cold wind, eyes lowered and silent as a statue. Because she'd deceived him in her previous life, she felt a strange mix of pity and wariness toward him. The young general noticed her gaze and finally abandoned the gentlemanly restraint of his past life, raising his head to meet her eyes without hesitation. That year, Xu Yunxiu was sixteen, and Xie Mingyi was seventeen. “Why pursue me so relentlessly?” “Why won't you give me an answer?” He wanted her to have a smooth, happy life. He wanted her to be honored in life and mourned in death. Even if his long-cherished wish was no more than a flower reflected in a mirror, he would still pluck it.